Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-08-17
SAVAGE PATAGONIANS.
Interesting Facts About Comparatively
Unknown Land.

neighbors, the Fuegians, are said to
enjoy human flesh, and indulge in
dreadful orgies over any prisoners or
shipwrecked sailors who fall into their
hands. The Tie1ra del Fuegians rep
resent the lowest type of humanity
found on the globe. They have no
deity, no moral code, not one custom
or habit which can be called intelli-
gent Of large stature, some inn
posingly so, they are perfectly british
in their instincts, without any redeem
ing attributes which belong to the
brute creation.
On this terrible mass of barbarism
the Church of England Missionary So
ciety has tried to make some impress
sion. The missionary Mr.. Bridge has
devoted his whole life to try and organ
ize some kind of order among them.
They have been taught to grow cereals
and build houses, and two of the ma
tives were taken to London, but
the good work only extends for a
short distance beyond the Mission set
Element
TERRA del Fuego, from Magellan to
Cape Horn, is a sea of mountains.
Wild animals are rare and the only
birds are the albatross the sea gull and
the Cape pigeon. Half the missing
vessels reported which have to 90
round the Horn are supposed to be lost
on this barren island and nobody ever
lives to tell the tale
Crossing over to Patagonia, we
have Punta Arenas, more generally
known as Sandy Point, Chilean
penal settlement and coaling station.
Among the milder-tempered and more
intelligent Patagonians life in this lit
tie town, though lonely, is not without
it's attractions. The main street
boasts of some substantial houses,
there is fort, Governors residence,
convict barracks and a respectable
custom-house and jetty. The inhab-
itants (about five hundred) are q
mixed population of Scotch, Chilean,
English and natives. Most of the En-
glish-speaking part of the settlement
represent different houses in the fur
trade. The Governor is polite and
hospitable, and is always anxious to
amuse the casual visitor to the best of
his ability. A collection of rare skins,
feathers and ostrich eggs meets the
eye in every house.
The convict establis hment is well
conducted and the prisoners have q
great deal of liberty. Here every
nationality under the sun is repre-
scented, most of the foreigners under
going their sentences for embezzle-
ment or fraud The Chileans punish
above offenses very severely, a ten
year sentence being considered light
The evenings are passed in singing
and dancing to the music of the
ubiquitous guitar
Near the town are coal mines, which
produce a tolerablY good fuel, but all
minerals in this large country are
waiting for capital and hardy workers
who can defy hardship and brave
dangers. Patagonia is essentially
mineral country. On the eastern coast
the Argentine Republic encourages
miners with liberal concessions and
valuable privileges, the result
being the extraction of gold in con-
siderable quantities by rude means and
primitive methods. In this country
there is virgin soil to work on, and in
this respect it should sffer better in
ducements than the abandoned mines
of Peru and Bolivia, in which countries
every native is a miner by instinct and
experience.
The Chilean Government, ever liber-
al in encouraging capital and immi-
grafton, would welcome and aid any
enterprise which would tend to the
opening up of mysterious Patagonia.
The interior of the country consists of
table-lands, with several ranges of
hills trending in a northeasterly direc-
ton. Innumerable streams and lakes
are to be met with, which in the winter
months are frozen up. The climate is
about the same as the south of Alaska.
Sandy Point is six days steam from
Valparaiso by the fast mail boats. The
scenery of the straits of Magellan and
Omlth SOUND IS magnlHcent. Vege-
tation grows from the waters edge,
terrace above terrace, their straight
lines ever and anon broken by some
beautiful inlet into which an enormous
glacier stretches and the background
composed of purple; then snow-clad
mountains which throw Swiss Alps
and Spanish Pyrenees into insignif-
canoe. On summer day such views
keep the traveller on deck from dawn
till evening, every turn and twist of
the straits unfolding new panoramic
effects to the artistic eye, as the steam
er threads it's way through intricate
channels beyond soundings in some
places, miles in breadth one moment,
so narrow another that the trees al
most touch the yards of the vessel on
either side. Cor. San francisco Cbq0ra-
GcEe.